What does it mean and what does it look like to create safe spaces for women of color on college campuses? What happens when we insist on conversations and collaborations that are intentional and intergenerational ?Â
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Join us for an intimate conversation and lunch with Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, led by Provost Renée T. White, as we explore these questions and more in the context of her keynote theme "In Times Such as These". Â
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This event is part of the Moment is Now: In Dialogue with Changemakers, curated by Provost White.
Open to New School students, faculty and staff.Â
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Johnnetta Betsch Cole is a noted anthropologist, educator, author, speaker and
consultant on inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility in educational
institutions, museums, corporations, and other workplaces. After receiving a
Ph.D. in anthropology, Dr. Cole held teaching positions in anthropology, women’s
studies, and African American studies at several colleges and universities.
Dr. Cole served as President of both historically Black colleges for women in the
United States, Spelman College and Bennett College, a distinction she alone
holds. She also served as the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of
African Art, as a Principal Consultant at Cook Ross, and as a Senior Consulting
Fellow at the Mellon Foundation.
Continuing her long involvement in community service, in 2004 Cole was the first
African American to serve as the Chair of the Board of United Way of America.
She recently served in the voluntary position of Chair of the Board and Seventh
President of the National Council of Negro Women. Currently she serves on the
board of the A. L. Lewis Museum on Historic American Beach in Fernandina
Beach, Florida.
Dr. Cole has served on the corporate boards of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Home
Depot, Merck, and Nation’s Bank South. She was the first woman appointed to
the board of Coca-Cola Enterprises and the first Black woman appointed to
Merck’s board of directors.
In 2023, Dr. Cole was appointed a senior fellow of the Kettering Foundation. And
in 2024, she was named one of the four co-chairs of the United Negro College
Fund (UNCF) $1 Billion Campaign. And in 2024, she was named an honorary
Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association.
Johnnetta Betsch Cole has authored, co-authored, and edited several books and
numerous articles for scholarly and general audiences. Her latest publications
are Speechifying: The Words and Legacy of Johnnetta Betsch Cole (2023):
Racism in American Public Life: A Call to Action (2021) and African Proverbs for
All Ages (2021). Dr. Cole has received numerous awards and is the recipient of
seventy-three honorary degrees. On March 21, 2023, Dr. Cole was awarded a
National Humanities Medal by President Joseph Biden.
Throughout her career and in her published work, speeches, and community
service, Johnnetta Betsch Cole consistently addresses issues of racism, sexism,
and all other systems of inequality. She is a mentor to people of different
identities and cultures.
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